Equipment

Now we all know that the crucial part of getting out there and cycling is having lots of brand new EQUIPMENT. (Hey - whaddya mean you think I'm just buying stuff in order to put off actually doing it??) So today I went out and bought a hi-vis jacket, and some cyclo-trousers (although not the really tight flab-showing ones). The jacket is bright yellow (although I'm not sure it's actually the reflective sort) but it has a bit of thickness and a fleecy bit round the collar so it might help keep the freezes out of my neck area. I hope. Both trousers and jacket by Altura. Got them at Wildside Cycles on Camden Road in Tunbridge Wells - a good shop and so brilliantly local for me - just down the road.

U-oh - battery is getting low.... gotta go...

Hi-Cal food, especially for regular cyclists such as myself (ahem)

I really like those chunky Kit-Kats. They're just the right shape. When you bite into them, you really feel like you've got a big, satisfying gobful of chocolate. Contrast, for example, with the slightly pathetic Wispa, which although much the same shape in cross-section, hits the palate with an insipidity reminiscent of an unseasoned, overcooked carrot julienne. Or something. I'm rambling.

Friday

I'm afraid this weblog is turning into a collection of sob stories about crappy trains. This morning I struggled to chivvy the girls out of the house and up to school in time so that I could get down to the station in time for the 09:01 train. OK, it's a far cry from the 06:07 which is what I had been congratulating myself for getting just a few days ago. But the weather is crap, and I did want to help Helen out by taking the girls up to school so that she wouldn't have to turn into jelly again on the icy slither-surface...
We were a teeny bit late getting going, of course, mainly because Judy does tend to dig her heels in if she feels like she's being hurried. Nothing wrong with that, I would probably do the same, but it does increase the frustration level. So I wished them a good day at the school crossing and then walked gingerly, but as fast as I could, down to the station. I got there just before nine. The 09:01 was cancelled. Bastards!!!
So then I had a half-hour wait for another train. I got myself a coffee and paper and sat out the intervening time in a fairly calm way. After all, it's not like I was late for a meeting or anything. It's just that when people see you turning up at half eleven, which I did, you sort of get the impression that people "think things"...

Next week my Travelcard with Zones 1-2 expires, and I have to make a choice. Do I get another the same for another 280 quid or whatever it is, or do I actually IMPLEMENT THE PLAN. Yes - the Big Plan, the Plan to just get the train to London (and pay the commensurately lower fare), and cycle out to Hammersmith. I think I need to get some more cycling kit so that I'm not bothered by rain or wind, because there's bound to be quite a bit of that...

Mind you, I've got a job application in at the moment which would solve this whole commuting problem. It's a 15 mile drive or something like that. Maybe even doable by bike. The job itself looks possible but it isn't Java, it's more of a Microsoft environment which may be easier to learn but who knows if they will go for me... I tend to think probably not but we'll see...

Not even a train today, let alone a bike

Yes, due to snow the trains are all up the creek. It says so on the website. So I felt inclined in telling work I am WAH-ing. WAH=Working At Home. Helen turns to jelly when it's icy so I have taken the girls up to school. I was thinking that this is one of the few days in the year that all the drivers of huge 4x4s can sit smugly behind the wheel and feel justified in owning a huge roadhogging tank. However I notice there don't seem to be many of them out there today: presumably because the owners don't like to get their shiny vehicles dirty...

Another day, Another excuse...

This morning I got up late. You can call Wednesday "Hump Day". If I can get over the hump, I can manage the rest of the week. Mind you, every day is Hump Day. So anyway. I went to bed early last night - before 21:30 - but just could not be bothered to struggle out of bed for the six o'clock train. Hit snooze repeatedly for the next couple of hours and eventually got up round seven. Then Helen looks out of the window and mutters something like "That's all I need". She was referring to the couple of inches of snow on the ground.

Now, we all know what snow means for British trains. Snow equals chaos. So with barely a thought to finally getting on my bike today, I got thru the shower and out by half past seven, stepping gingerly over the slippery pavements. Train was late arriving, then not sure of where it was going, then making additional stops, then sardine-packed with squawking schoolgirls, then dawdling all the way into Charing Cross a good 45 minutes late.

I did see some brave soul getting onto this train with his bike at Tunbridge Wells. It was old stock, so I guess he can get away with it. I should've asked him how it works for him. IF it works.

So actually I don't need an excuse for today. And that's that.

Another day has passed...

The only thing stopping me getting on that bike is the cold, honestly. Coldest day of the year with snow still forecast. I saw one guy getting off the 06:07 train at London Bridge with a bike. So that looks possible, although I don't know what he does for the journey. Yesterday (unusually) it was an old banger of a train - but at least that has a guard's van. Normally there's just the seat-free space near the bogs. I assume you can get your bike in there but it would seriously piss me off at that time of the morning to find it was somehow "a problem".
Getting back would be the other bugger. In theory you can't take a bike out of London til 19:00, and you can see why: I got on the 17:40 from Charing Cross last night and it was completely rammed. Sardines 'til Tonbridge, by which time my legs had frozen into an awkward standing position and I couldn't be bothered to get one of the few remaining seats which would have positioned me in yet closer proximity to another grumpy commuter.
If it's that bad just with a human being, being+bike is going to be a no-no.
Perhaps tomorrow...

Well, I thought about it...

On Saturday I walked across to the garage where my bike is stored and got it out for the first time in about a year. The tyres were a bit soft but generally it's in good condition, so I rode it back home, a journey with a slight uphill gradient and a duration of approximately 5 minutes. When I got in I was KNACKERED! Which is quite disturbing. Still, I parked the bike in the dining room (nowhere else for it!), and proceeded with my plans.

I work in Hammersmith and live in Tunbridge Wells. A 15 minute walk to the station, followed by a 50 minute train ride, followed by a 20 minute tube ride followed by a 10 minute walk. In practice this means over 2 hours door to door, much longer if I miss a connection or there is some problem somewhere along the line. It's a bad commute, but that's where my job is at the moment. Which is another story.

Having such a long commute, I don't get much time for exercise, and as the months have gone by I have put on weight and become generally listless. I would like to do some cycling again, but how to fit it in? Hence the idea that I could start commuting by bike. Not all the way, obviously, that would take about 4 hours each way I reckon, churning thru South London with the white vans, the Spirito di Puntos, the Va-va-voom Renault Clios, the huge 4x4s, X5s, Freelanders, the artics whizzing past my ears at breakneck speed or else nose to tail fuming in a crowded-car jam, each immense lump of shiny metal encasing approximately ONE commuter. So: what other options? I could try to take it on the train and then ride down to Hammersmith! Brilliant! Bit of exercise, plus cheaper fare because I wouldn't have to buy a tube ticket. OK: but practical? We will see.

So this morning I got up as usual at 05:15 for the 06:07 train. I then spent a good 20 minutes vacillating about whether to actually take my bike. It's not helped that I have chosen the start of a major cold snap to consider this. An icy north wind and snow is forecast, although in fact this morning it's lovely and clear, and dry, and fairly calm. Eventually I wimped out, with just a few minutes to go before actually leaving the house. I went thru all the options from zooming straight out on my bike, all the way down to just giving the whole day up as a bad job and crawling back into bed.

I did make it to the usual train though. I thought it best to check things out with regard to cycle-commuting before actually doing it (you see? The procrastination starts already!). I wanted to see if anyone else was doing it, where they put their bike on the train, etc. Because in theory the rules on the trains are that there are a "Limited number of spaces available on all services except those timed to arrive in London between 0700 – 0959 or to depart London between 1600 – 1859 (weekdays).". This effectively rules out any normal form of cycle commuting, because you would have to leave very early and get back very late in order to avoid these restricted times. But I know for a fact that people do still do it, particularly on trains which still have the old slam door carriages and therefore a guard's van with space for bikes. The newer trains don't have as much space generally.

So now, I've got to work as normal, by train and tube, and my bike still waits in the dining room (from which I've a feeling Helen is going to evict it pretty soon...), waiting for that fateful day when I actually do manage to Get Back On My Bike...